Fifth Soul Ring

Perhaps the hardships of this mission had been enough; everyone managed to return to Holy City without any real danger. After this battle, Long Haochen and the others decided to enter seclusion and cultivate to improve their strength.

Ling Mo could only shrug at that, thinking it was good to be busy. He then questioned Finality about the disconnection from his martial soul last time. That was secondary, though. After all, Finality's power was not his to begin with. The key issue was, what did it mean that Jizo had been locked too?

Upon entering Stigmata Space, before Ling Mo could even speak, he saw a massive purple pillar standing on the back mountain of Yae Village within Stigmata Space.

Ling Mo: "..."

Finality was nowhere to be seen, so she had to be up on the mountain. Sure enough, when Ling Mo arrived beneath the giant pillar, Finality turned to look at him.

Finality: "How rare. It's been a long time since you came looking for me on your own initiative."

Ling Mo: "Who told you to drag me in here every other day? I don't even know what I'm supposed to do when I come in. By the way, what is this thing? Where did you get it?"

Ling Mo rubbed his chin, wondering what mischief Finality was plotting this time. Then he suddenly realized—could this thing be a Demon God Pillar?!

Ling Mo's expression instantly changed. The pieces had connected. Everything made sense now.

Finality saw every change in Ling Mo's expression. It seemed no explanation was necessary.

Ling Mo: "That's going too far. Can't you just say it outright? I don't want to rack my brains and play mind games with you in another world too."

Finality: "Give me a break. This is the First Demon God Pillar, taken from the Demon God Emperor. You couldn't even be bothered to deal with the three weakest Demon Gods last time, much less this one. That guy's strength is already very close to this world's lesser gods."

Finality rolled her eyes at Ling Mo. As if I didn't know what kind of person you were. As the saying went, your opponent would always understand you best. Although Finality had had very few chances to interact with Ling Mo before coming to this world, and she had never seriously fought him in any of their battles—in their final battle, she had barely even fought back—none of that stopped her from understanding him. Last time, she had only asked with the attitude of giving it a try. The result was obvious: Finality had directly given Ling Mo the full package, temporarily knocking him offline and taking over his account herself for a moment.

Ling Mo: "So you controlled my body again? Should I praise you for being so diligent?"

Finality: "I'll take that as praise."

Ling Mo: "I'm curious. Logically speaking, it shouldn't be that difficult for you to control my body, should it?"

Finality spread her hands. "What do you think? My current situation is similar to that Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's. Have you ever seen her casually control the body of the human she inhabits? Besides, your situation is different from Huo Yuhao's. Though you were reborn, your soul is still the original one. If I forcibly occupy your body, our souls will still affect one another regardless of whether you consent. I don't care, but as for you... heh."

With that, Finality crossed her arms and let out a disdainful laugh. She turned away and continued examining the Demon God Pillar.

Got it. So I have to lose consciousness and leave my body temporarily vacant, is that it?

Finality: "If you think you can beat the Demon God Emperor, you can handle it yourself next time."

Ling Mo considered it and decided that was better left alone. Still, if the people around him were hurt because of him, he would feel guilty. Should I come up with a way to leave the squad instead?

As Ling Mo pondered how to leave the squad, Finality spoke again.

"Let me tell you some good news. Well, it's good news for you. Not for me."

Ling Mo: "What?"

Finality: "I studied this thing. It's useless to me. In your words, it's like a meal that can only fill the gaps between my teeth—whether I have it or not makes little difference. But it's different for you. It might even fill you up by a fair amount."

Would I use such a weird metaphor? How come I don't know that? Ling Mo was shocked. He felt Finality was slandering him, but unfortunately, he had no proof.

Finality: "Simply put, your soul ring has been settled." As she spoke, she tapped the Demon God Pillar beside her. The meaning could not have been clearer.

Ling Mo swallowed. "You wouldn't... be planning to turn this thing into my soul ring, would you?"

Finality: "They're different planes, but their systems of rules are largely the same. Just tell me whether you want it or not."

Although Ling Mo did not think Finality would be so kind, she did not seem to intend to wait for his answer. She placed one hand on the Demon God Pillar, and it began to collapse inward in her grasp at a visible rate. Gradually, it was forcibly compressed into the form of a soul ring, floating above Finality's hand. The crack-like patterns that had originally covered it were also erased by Finality. Then she tossed it into a mass of crimson-gold blood summoned from Imaginary Space. Moments later, the 'soul ring' absorbed every last drop of blood, but its color remained a deep, shadowy purple.

Finality: "There. Take it out and absorb it."

With that, she kicked Ling Mo out of Stigmata Space without giving him a chance to speak.

Back in reality, Ling Mo stared blankly at the 'soul ring' in his hand. After a few seconds, he sighed. Forget it. I won't think about it for now. I'll absorb it first and see what happens.

Three months later, Long Haochen and the others had all emerged from seclusion, but Ling Mo was still absorbing his soul ring. Fortunately, before entering seclusion, Ling Mo had already told everyone that he was at a critical breakthrough stage and could not be disturbed. Thus, they did not bother him and went to the Mission Tower to buy equipment with their merit points first. During that time, they ran into an old Demon Hunter Squad that tried to scam them out of merit points. Not only did they fail to get any, they ended up losing one hundred thousand themselves.

Afterward, every Demon Hunter Squad in the Demon Hunter Tower that had yet to accept a mission received an emergency war mission. Seeing that Ling Mo had not yet emerged from seclusion, the others could only leave him a message and set off to carry out the mission.

This war was exceptionally brutal. The demon race alone deployed twelve Light Demon Gods. Although none of them ranked particularly high, it was enough to show how severe the human side's casualties would be.

Perhaps protagonists were born to be the center of the world. In the end, the battle came to a temporary close with Long Haochen severely injured and unconscious. Later, under treatment from the Deputy Head of the Priest Temple, Long Haochen recovered from his injuries and awakened.

Another month passed. By the time Ling Mo finished absorbing the soul ring, saw the message, and hurried over, Long Haochen and the others had already entered Dream Paradise, a special secret realm within the Priest Temple's territory, to obtain spiritual furnaces.

Outside the Dream God Temple in Southwatch Pass, Priest Temple.

Having just arrived, Ling Mo was dumbfounded at the sight of a group of Ninth Tier demons waiting outside. It was not their strength that surprised him, but why there were demons here at all. It was only after the Priest Temple personnel who had brought him here explained the situation that Ling Mo remembered that such a matter did seem to have happened.

The human race had used several slots in Dream Paradise as bargaining chips in exchange for ending this war. After all, whenever Dream Paradise opened, it was impossible to take away everything born within it. It was better to use them for a trade—a guaranteed profit with no loss.

After hearing that, Ling Mo could only marvel at how shrewd it was, but he still felt that something was bound to happen. Not all demons were fools. If they would give up so easily, Ling Mo would have to think they were all idiots.